I've noticed there's never a shortage of "I am an idiot" moments when I am working my car or anyone else's for that matter. Usually there's a lesson to be learned. I'd love to hear about your screwups and more importantly, learn from your mistakes so let's hear them!

I'll start! This one relates to the G.

Are you sure it's in?
I bought my 2008 G37s 6MT coupe in fall 2011. That winter I familiarized myself with all that this forum had to offer, particularly the DIY section. I convinced myself that a diff and tranny fluid change was in order given the age of my car. After talking about it to a few people, a coworker, a friend, and my roommate decided they'd witness my glory (not really, they speculated it would be entertaining).

I raised the car safely and place it on four jack stands, I slid underneath and began describing how cramped it is down there, laughter ensued. I started by removing the fill plugs. Then I proceeded to remove the drain plugs, I slipped on the diff drain plug and ended up repositioning myself and the ratchet. Nothing too bad. On the tranny drain plug I kept on slipping, the combination of it facing upward and me feeling cramped was not working. I tried lying on my belly, my back, my side, it just kept slipping out when I applied force. After many attempts, my coworker (who was rebuilding his first car, a 93 LeBaron convertible) crawled under and looked at the drain plug and the socket and asked "Are you sure it (the hex socket) is in? That drain plug is getting chewed up." He told me to put the socket it and he'd take a look. I did, he looked at it funny and gave it a tap or two and it went further in. It went in about 3 times more than what I had it originally in by, in essence, I'd had it 1/4 of the way in. I face palmed. It came off just fine that time.

We inspected the drain plug, and after much embarrassment and laughter I decided I would order 2 new plugs such that none were chewed up. The dealer had closed, so the car sat on jack stands over night. The tranny and diff both empty, but closed with plugs to avoid crap from getting in. The next day the dealer said they could have them in the following day. Another night up in the air for my G. Finally the drain plugs arrived and my coworker and I finished the fluid swap that night.

Lesson learned: Make sure your socket, wrench, screwdriver is in or on correctly. Saves time and energy later. Also helps torque everything down properly.

 

Never work on your car when you are extremely tired. And never think you won't make a completely foolish mistake.

Years ago, I had a 2000 Maxima. Long story short - I was up all night and in the morning UPS delivered my Tein Springs and Tockico Illumina shocks. Instead of getting some sleep, I was excited to get them on the car.

Well, I had the right rear wheel off, car on a jack stand and a breaker bar to take the main bolt off of the shock. I ended up turning in the wrong direction (with all my might). I ended up basically fusing the bolt and at the same time stripping it completely. I had to take the car to a local shop and they had to weld a socket to the bolt to remove it.

Lesson learned - don't pull an all nighter and work on your car.

And think twice before working on your car while drunk or very baked. Easy to make stupid mistakes.

 

around 2 years ago, changed the front brake pads on my 07 x5. It was the first time I'd ever changed brakes on anycar. The change went smooth. The wife was pressuring me to hurry up to go out to dinner with a relative that was with us. Took the car for test drive, brakes worked well. Came home and cleaned up quickly. Went to dinner and on the way felt some vibration. Then realized I had forgotten to tighten the lugs all the way. My wife didn't trust me to do the job in the first place so I didn't want to admit my error. Luckily we made it to the restaurant and I tighted 4/5 lugs. The 5th needed a key. Went home to tighten the last one and couldn't find the key. I had left it on the wheel when I went for test drive apparently. I looked everywhere for 2 days, retraced my test drive, looked into ordering new set and sacraficing the current lugs. On the way home from work with my car, I noticed something shinny on the road about 1/4 mile from my house, and sure enough it was the key. Lesson learned. Take your time, take your time, take your time and pay attention to details.

 

About hour 5 into the 9 hour ordeal of replacing my exhaust I realized

"Some things are worth paying a shop to do."

 

Thinking that Plasi-dip looked good, but at least it was easy to tear off

 

Tried changing the steering wheel trip on my 07 sedan. After i took the steering wheel off I accidently broke both clips to the airbag. I could have attempted to fix it myself but I wouldnt have felt safe since this are the airbags. I ended up going to infiniti and paying 450 bucks for new clips. Worst mistake ever

 

Custom painting my Engine cover.... 14 hours of total work time for the paint to bubble after being subjected to engine heat. I was pretty put off by the ordeal. (last weekend) It's okay though. Just bought a new OEM cover from my dealer for $125 on Tuesday. I learned to leave paint and bodywork to the pro's. It looked GREAT before the heat.

 

Sorry to hear that Justin, bet it looked sweet prior to the mishap

 

It was simple coloring. Just reverse of the factory coloring and glossy with 10 coats of clear... It looked like it came from the factory that way.

 

Always read at least the first 4-5 pages of any DIY. You'll learn valuable tips that were not put in the first post ( or updated into the first post ) on how not to break items while DIY'ing something.
Helllooo others that have joined the "cracked upper rad shroud while taking out the grille with the bumper still on" crowd. Reading the DIY... I am not alone. Dealership got my money though, new part installed.

 

not my G but my friend's turbocharged civic. He got the engine rebuilt and we were putting it into the shell. Got the transmission in and the engine block by using a scissor jack, cinder blocks and sheer brute strength in the middle of the night. after we got the mounts in, I caught tired and left. My friend however kept working and put the engine head. somewhere through the process he misplaced a small allen key inside one of the pistons... long story short. the allen key killed a piston and the engine head had to be re-ported.

Lesson learned? No nut, bolt or allen key go unaccounted for.

 

After spending a few hours installing a Stillen intake and getting everything perfectly lined up and the cleaning off the bumper and hood of fingerprints and putting all the tools away, I look over to the other side of the garage and see the styrofoam mold that goes inside the bumper and the front end sitting there. Lucky for me, I got pretty fast at removing the front bumper.......

 

But we still do them on our own anyway.

 

My girlfriend wanted to help me install coils so i let her. obviously she did all the easy stuff like tightening the nuts in the engine bay as i put the coils in. then i hear this clanking noise and look up and she had that puppy look that i just effed up. she ended up dropping the entire socket wrench in to my engine bay.

finished the install and cleaned everything up. so theres a socket wrench somewhere in my engine bay
If you want your job done fast and right dont ask your girlfriend











just kidding i found the socket wrench in the slash sheild after she dropped it

 

Lol, I once dropped a fender washer into my engine bay as I was buttoning everything back up. I thought about leaving it behind, but I decided to grab a flashlight and look for it. I found it sitting on the INSIDE of the serpentine belt. I'm not sure what would have happened if I had decided to try starting the car with it sitting there, but it probably would not have been good.